Nuclear talks with US 'meaningless': Is Iran's goal a nuclear bomb?

TEHRAN: Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Abbas Araghchi said that continuing nuclear talks with the US is meaningless. Araghchi made Iran's position clear during a conversation with Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas. There are concerns that this could lead to the collapse of Iran's nuclear talks with the US. This could also lead to an increase in Israeli aggression. US President Donald Trump has warned that there will be serious consequences if the talks collapse. Iran has not yet said that it will abandon the talks completely. Araghchi also alleged that Israel's attacks on Iran are a result of direct US support. The sixth round of nuclear talks with the US is scheduled to be held in Muscat on Sunday. There are indications that Iranian representatives will not attend. When asked by the media, an Iranian spokesman said that their focus is now on repelling the enemy's aggression.

Israel launched an attack targeting Iran's nuclear facilities, including the uranium enrichment centre in Natanz. It also killed nine prominent nuclear scientists. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that he had received an intelligence report that Iran would build a nuclear bomb within months. The US and Israel maintain that Iran should not have nuclear weapons. At the same time, Iran claims that the country's nuclear facilities are for peaceful research and are not building nuclear weapons.

Secret activities

• The International Atomic Energy Agency has found that Iran carried out activities related to the development of nuclear explosives from the late 1980s to 2003.
• Iran is said to have carried out some secret activities until the Western countries revealed that Iran was building a nuclear research center in Fordow in 2009.
• The Atomic Energy Agency has said that it has not found credible evidence of Iran developing nuclear weapons since then.
• A deal between the US and Western countries, under which economic sanctions on Iran would be lifted if it did not build nuclear weapons, came into effect in 2016. Under the agreement, Iran set limits on uranium enrichment and stopped work on nuclear reactors.
• The US withdrew from the deal in 2018 during the first Trump administration. Sanctions on Iran again. Iran also moved beyond restrictions, including resuming uranium enrichment at Fordow
• US attempts to reach nuclear deal with Iran again. Iran is ready to limit its nuclear program, but will not give it up completely
• Iran has abandoned the indirect nuclear talks that were supposed to be held with the US

Bomb capable of penetrating underground facilities

The main nuclear facilities known to the outside world in Iran are Fordow, Khondab (Arak), Natanz, Isfahan, and Bushehr. Iran says that the underground secret tunnels at Natanz were also attacked. Fordow and Isfahan were also attacked. However, the extent of the damage here is not clear. No dangerous radiation levels were detected at any of the three sites. Israel is believed to have used huge bombs capable of penetrating bunkers to attack the underground secret tunnels at Natanz and Fordow. They are believed to be similar to the US GBU-28. Bushehr is currently the only nuclear power plant in Iran that is still operating. It uses fuel from Russia.